Welcome to Better Know An Umpire, an effort to educate ourselves on the human elements who have ultimate decision-making power over some 2,500 Major League Baseball games a year. (All cumulative statistics are through the 2011 season, unless otherwise stated.)

Claim to fame: Was the left field umpire at Wrigley Field on October 14, 2003. That's right: Game 6 of the NLCS. Moises Alou pleaded with Everitt to call fan interference after he and Steve Bartman reached for the same foul ball, but Everitt declined. The Marlins won the game and, eventually, the series.

Everitt's R/9, BB/9, and K/9 had all been rising since 2007, but in 2010 they went down. In the case of his R/9 and BB/9, he was just joining the larger trend ... but the drop in K/9 bucked the trend. ... While establishing himself in 2000, he led the major leagues with 13 ejections. He hasn't had a year like that since, but his ejection rate remains higher than average.

There is a specific, inescapable horror in umpires these days. You never know when the next screwy mindfuck of a call is going to come, and if it can happen to a guy with as much skill as Mike Everitt, it can happen to anybody.